The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A divided Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that sheriffs in the state's non-charter counties can order the deployment of tear gas to quell a riot without seeking authorization from the chair of a county’s board of commissioners. A recen...

(The Center Square) - The Spokane County Sheriff's office, in conjunction with the Spokane Police Department, have issued a warning to any Kia or Hyundai owner without a push-to-start button – your car may be so easy to steal, a teenager as young as 13 could do it. T...

(The Center Square) – After a dip in July, Washington state’s economy gained an estimated 2,900 non-farm jobs in August, the state's Employment Security Department reported Wednesday. Updated figures showed the state losing 6,300 jobs in July after a reported gain of 13,100 jobs in June. At the tim...

(The Center Square) - The Washington State Public Works Board recently approved more than $220 million in funding for local infrastructure projects statewide. This funding cycle saw 62 applicants who submitted 85 funding requests for a total of $312,224,348 funds to be used for infrastructure statewide...

(The Center Square) – Washington is the fifth-best state in the country for workers, according to a new report from Oxfam. That’s two spots down from last year, when Washington came in third place in British-founded Oxfam’s annual “Best States to Work Index,” which determines its rankings of all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico by looking at wage policies, worker protections and

(The Center Square) — More assistance has been made available for families, property owners and businesses affected by recent wildfires in Washington state. On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee expanded an earlier emergency proclamation by directing the state Department of Social and Health Services to provide benefits from the agency’s Family Emergency Assistance Program through Sept. 29 to indi... Read

(The Center Square) – Washington state has been allocated more than $23.4 million in federal grant funding to make its energy grid more resilient against wildfires and other natural disasters. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced the allocation in a Tuesday news release. The ...

(The Center Square) – Washington Department of Ecology officials faced a variety of questions during a public hearing last week regarding a pending state ban on certain refrigerant products and the agency’s related management program to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Not all qu...

(The Center Square) – There was some cautiously optimistic news from a series of updates on Spokane County's Oregon Road Fire and Gray Fire. The manpower brought to bear on the fires seems to be paying off in the form of the blazes getting closer to being brought under control. R...

(The Center Square) – Two companies based in Yakima agreed to pay $194,302 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for violations of the Clean Air Act. Congdon Packing Company, LLC, and D&H Properties Yakima, LLC failed to keep safety information up to date, adequately address process hazard analysis recommendations, perform a timely process hazard analysis every five years, provide initia